"The developers invited by Apple to Cupertino range from those behind titles for sports applications and productivity software. Apple has also been meeting with banks to work on WatchKit applications that assist with the Apple Watch’s Apple Pay functionality. Besides U.S.-based banks, Apple has been working on WatchKit apps with developers from Germany-based banks, which indicates Apple is likely in talks with more foreign banks to expand Apple Pay to more countries across the world."

The article also notes that there is a sense of urgency around the meetings, presumably in order to have a good number of smoothly-...

Starting Monday, the SoHo Apple Store will play host to fashion industry insiders as an unofficial extension of New York's Fashion Week, with special in-store discussions on creativity, style and digital media running through Thursday.

Most “intranets” suck. And the tools that claim to be “social”, focus too much on conversation, at the expense of process and information. So that traditional intranet stuff — like making sure all employees have read the company policy or approved the latest version of that document — is all but forgotten.

Igloo is an intranet you’ll actually like – integrating all the elements you need in a single place to work. Igloo lets your company or team share news, organize your files, coordinate calendars and manage projects, all in one place. And if you want to confirm that Bob over in accounting has read that critical piece of information in Igloo, it’s as simple as sending a read receipt in your email (but way less annoying)

A new video obtained by AppleInsider on Monday reveals more detail on Apple's camera-equipped minivans, with views of the interior showing at least two people man the vehicles during testing operations.

My Mac is now silent. After installing a solid state drive (SSD) with no moving parts, the drone of my iMac’s hard drive and fans has given way to such an absence of sound that I only hear the high-pitched squeal of my office lights.

My Mac is now fast. Even with 400GB of available space, OS X Yosemite’s constant hard drive accessing had brought my quad-core, 3.4GHz Core i7 machine to its knees. Now I’m seeing five times the hard drive speeds, apps are loading instantly, and my iMac feels as responsive as the MacBooks and iPads that beat it to the SSD game.

Apple Pay, which allows users to securely pay in stores using the latest models of the iPhone simply by placing the smartphone near a special terminal, uses your existing credit or debit card without revealing personal...

Apple has been working with several third-party App Store developers at its Cupertino, California offices to assist developers in finishing up applications for the upcoming Apple Watch. Development and design representatives from dozens of different development firms have visited Apple last week, or are coming to Cupertino this week, to work with Apple engineers to finish up WatchKit-based applications. One source claims that Apple is holding workshops for over 100 different developers across February. Apple also met with a smaller number of developers to assist with WatchKit development and discuss future plans in early January…

The developers invited by Apple to Cupertino range from those behind titles for sports...

Today I'm taking a look at the Speck CandyShell INKED case for iPhone 6 Plus (US$44.95 MSRP, $39.95 through Amazon - affiliate link). For those who have opted for the biggest iPhone around, the CandyShell INKED is a protective and stylish case with a price tag that won't scare you away. Speck is a long-time manufacturer with a great reputation for quality, so you're getting a product that's going to last.

Let's start with a few specifications. The case weighs just 1.6 ounces (45.36 grams), and is just slightly larger than the iPhone 6 Plus itself. While it's light and slim, it offers features you're not going to see with a lot of iPhone...

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a set of rules that would restrict the use of drones in the sky, placing new qualifications on private enthusiasts and seemingly striking a serious blow to Amazon's airborne delivery plans.

It’s pure arrogance for Silicon Valley to imagine that it can make wearables cool by hiring a few fashion people, putting the product on a runway, or throwing money at “collaborations” with brands. This is a new game they’re trying to play, one with different rules. The rollout of the Apple Watch would look much different if it were orchestrated by a brand like Chanel. Instead of being released at $350, it would hit stores with a price tag in the thousands. Consumers would clamor to get their hands on one, only to be stymied by limited runs, which would further stoke desire. Only after a few years of artificial scarcity would it enjoy wider release.

I have the fashion sense of a hobo so I have no idea if this piece is an accurate portrayal or not but it is an interesting take on the subject.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

In ExtraBITS this week, Aperture is leaving the Mac App Store, The New Yorker profiles Apple design head Jony Ive, Managing Editor Josh Centers chats with the Tech Night Owl, U.S. carriers now have to unlock your paid-off smartphone, and Apple’s Activation Lock is preventing iPhone thefts.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

One of the newsletters that I look forward to reading each week is the Monday Note, edited by Frédéric Filloux and ex-Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée. Not only is the Monday Note fascinating to read, but it provides a level of insight and analysis that's much more reasoned and believable than most tech blogs. That's why I refused to write anything about the much-ballyhooed Apple Car last week when many of the other Apple sites were all over the "story" until I read what Gassée had to say about it. His take? "The fantastic Apple Car is a fantasy."

Yes, I know that this goes contrary to popular opinion, but I'm in Gassée's court on this one. I don't think Apple is going to be selling a car. Sure, Apple may have "400 people" working on an auto-related project, but as Gassée points out, they could just as well...

Once a week, Backerjack founder Ross Rubin and I meet up to chat about the latest products that are attempting to get funding through Indiegogo, Kickstarter or other crowdfunding sources. This week, on Episode 6 of the Backerjack Podcast, Ross and I talk about:

A new device, CarVi, that provides some rather high-tech driving assistance in a small, windshield-mounted and connected device.

Those who love the subtle glow of garden lights at night will love the solar-powered, color LED PLAYBULB.

Lightning cables and battery packs are often so similar that I rarely have a strong preference for “nicer” alternatives over basic ones. But Nomad has been working to change that by creating practical charging accessories that you’ll actually want to carry around everywhere. Last year, it debuted the NomadKey ($25), which places a Lightning to USB cable on your keychain, as well as NomadPlus ($40), an iPhone battery pack that combines with Apple’s 5W USB Power Adapter to become an 1800mAh “anywhere” recharger.

Now it’s shipping the NomadClip ($40), which combines a super-sturdy carabiner clip with a Lightning cable. I’ll...

When Apple's now-famous new campus opens next year, it will feature numerous parts created by the company's in-house design group and manufactured in a California factory built specifically for the project.

Apple has confirmed that it will be removing Aperture for sale from the Mac App Store after Photos for OS X launches in a few months. Regardless, previous purchasers will still be able to redownload it as necessary. If you’ve never used Aperture, now would not be a good time to start, but if you need to purchase an extra copy to tide you over for a while, it’s now or never.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

In this chapter we continue by looking at some security settings that require a bit more explanation and thought. That includes a discussion of OS X’s Gatekeeper and sandboxing security features, some basics for using user accounts more securely, and a couple of quick suggestions about sharing files, your screen, and other resources.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

In this week’s chapter of the streamed “Take Control of Security for Mac Users,” Joe Kissell explains how to use OS X’s Gatekeeper technology to protect yourself from malicious apps, helps you set up user accounts for optimal security, and looks at how to share resources on your Mac securely.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Apple design chief Jony Ive's transformation into the new face of the company continued this week with a flattering, far-reaching profile that considers him "one of the two most powerful people" at Apple and a reluctant standard bearer for Steve Jobs's legacy.

New Yorker reporter Ian Parker spoke to Jony Ive and other ranking Apple employees about Ive's contribution to the company since he joined in 1992. The lengthy profile details Jony Ive's life at Apple and includes a rare trip into Apple's design studio on the company's Infinite Loop campus. Much of the profile focuses on the upcoming Apple Watch and the design considerations that went into creating the wristwatch device.

For the watch, it was a year before Ive settled on straps that clicked into slots. Ive later tested watchbands by wearing them outside the studio with other watches. The shape of the body, meanwhile, barely changed: a rectangle with rounded corners. “When a huge part of the function is lists”—of names, or appointments—“a circle doesn’t make any sense,” Ive said. Its final form...

I’m generally a minimalist where iPhone cases are concerned, preferring either the naked phone or a very slim case like the Mujjo wallet case that is my daily driver. But Pad & Quill’s leather cases are so gorgeous, it’s hard to resist trying out something a little more substantial.

The Pad & Quill Bella Fino is a pocket book style leather wallet case available for both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Designed for use in a jacket pocket, it combines all-round protection for the phone with slots for either four (iPhone 6) or five (iPhone 6 Plus) cards, plus a slot for bills …

The first thing you notice about the Bella Fino is the thickness of the leather. Both front and back covers are rigid,...

The New Yorker’s Ian Parker has written an exhaustive profile of Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple’s head of design. Set aside some time for this one, as it’s the very definition of a long read, but if you’re at all interested in Apple’s design process, it’s worth it. Two tidbits of note: Ive gave director J.J. Abrams some ideas for lightsaber designs for the upcoming Star Wars movie, and Ive goes on at length about car design, adding fuel to the rumors that Apple is working on one of its own.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-...

Managing Editor Josh Centers joined the Tech Night Owl podcast to explain his take on net neutrality, why Apple may be working on an Apple Pen, and ponder the possibility of an Apple Car.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Apple design chief Jony Ive and retail head Angela Ahrendts are working together on a redesign of Apple's retail stores --?a different approach that will make them better suited for selling the fashionable Apple Watch, according to a new report.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s President’s Day and the staff of O’Grady’s PowerPage will be spending the day with friends and family and will return tomorrow with more Mac and iOS mobile news and features.

Stay warm, enjoy the holiday and we’ll be back tomorrow with more news that will ROCK YOUR SPLEENs and keep you up to date!

“This watch will be so special,” he said, describing the display as “almost like a little piece of art.” While other smartphone manufacturers have struggled to sell in significant numbers, Woz has no doubt that the Apple Watch will succeed: “Millions of people will buy this watch right from the start.”

Woz showed off his own current watch during the interview, a huge, eccentric wristpiece featuring genuine vacuum tubes. Jony Ive didn’t return the...

This is Alex's guide dog Zandra -- read more about her at the bottom of this post in a description that is machine-readable.

It's with a great deal of pride that we're introducing a new Apple World Today column along with a new columnist. The column is Accessible Apple, and as far as we know it's the first time that an Apple-centric website has featured a regular column about accessible computing. In his first post for AWT, Accessible Apple columnist Alex Jurgensen introduces himself:

I started life in the tech industry in 1995, on a Macintosh given to me by a friend who bought it off a lease at the university where he worked. It was he who over the years would introduce me to the PowerMac G4, the Unix command-line, and ultimately the wonderful world of Apple accessibility.

Back in 1995, my sight was beginning to fail, but my ability to overcompensate meant that it would go unnoticed and untreated for several years yet...

I recently revisited Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's decision not to hire Academy Award winner and successful lifestyle author and blogger Gwyneth Paltrow for a lifestyle editing position...because she didn't have a college degree. In doing so, I ran into a comment by Martha Stewart, the 'queen of lifestyle' who clearly is acting like Paltrow is a threat. Since there is no doubt that Stewart has been very successful as a CEO, this got me thinking that if Martha Stewart is scared of how well Paltrow is doing, and Stewart is a better CEO than Mayer, would Paltrow be a better CEO than Mayer?

The VLC for iOS app–a favorite media player for many–has returned to the App Store in some countries and is expected to be available for all shortly. Some existing US users (us included!) are also reporting on Reddit being able to update to the latest version (2.4.1) if they have the previous version from before it was removed.

The app has something of a chequered history in the App Store, first removed from the store way back in 2011 after a licensing dispute, the original open-source developers claiming that the App Store terms were incompatible with the GNU Public License for the code. The app finally returned in 2013 before disappearing once more last September … ...

The New Yorker has published an extensive profile on Jony Ive, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design. Many newspapers have written up articles on Ive in recent years, but this latest account by Ian Parker is by far the most detailed and (arguably) the most interesting, revealing new anecdotes and tidbits on Apple’s latest products in the process.

The story tracks how Jony arrived at Apple back in the late 90’s, how his relationship with Jobs developed over that period and how he is adapting to ‘leading’ design in post-Jobs Apple. The piece includes some new details about how the Watch project and the newest iPhones formed, as well as incorporating quotes from Tim Cook, Bob Mansfield and others.

There’s a hole in the digital hub. All day long we have a unique, immediate connection to the places we go, whether it’s through an iPhone, Apple TV or, soon enough, an Apple Watch. HomeKit has brought a sense of unity to the Internet of Things. HealthKit has laid the foundation for a bridge between patient and doctor. Digital Touch gives us a quick, spontaneous way to communicate with our distant friends and loved ones.

It's time to save some of your hard-earned money with our Daily Deals, featuring exclusive deals for AWT readers, hardware discounts and our own handpicked iOS and OS X sales. All prices are USD and subject to change. Please check prices before you purchase as some deals may expire quickly.

AWT's Daily Deals

Simon 4.0 [OS X; On sale for $49.00, down from $99.00] AppleWorld.Today is pleased to offer an exclusive deal on Simon 4.0 by Dejal Systems. Simon is a robust site monitoring tool for OS X that checks servers for changes or failures and notifies you when a change is detected. The app sends a notification via email, sound, speech, Twitter, or a variety of other means.

The native Mac utility can be used to monitor both your own website and servers as well as external sites. You can use it to track your...

Sunday February 15

The laptop market has changed a lot over the previous decade. No longer restricted to the business world, laptops have become all over the place at school and at home. The total amount of selection when it comes to buying new releases laptops can be a little incredible, particularly for a new buyer. the advantages of laptop are You can take a laptop with you everywhere. Even out of the country provided that you get a power adapter in addition. Keep the negatives in mind when buy a laptop. Laptops are great for portable but it has some drawback also Laptops are easy to steal if you forgot to take care when traveling, their battery life is not extraordinarily well-built and can be provoking if you want to work without electricity. Think what you will be using it for in view of the fact that laptops have such a...

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Adds support for the BusyContacts contact management app and provides a number of fixes. ($49.99 new, free update, 10.3 MB)

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

On February 15, 1965, our national flag was raised for the first time on Parliament Hill. Canada was just two years away from centennial celebrations when the maple leaf flag was made official by Royal Proclamation. In 1996, February 15 was declared National Flag of Canada Day and has been observed every year since.

February 15, 2015, will mark the 50th anniversary of the National Flag of Canada. This special Flag Day is the perfect opportunity to learn more about how our flag was created and what it means to us.

I love my country and I’m very proud of our flag and what it stands for. Thanks to John Kordyback for the link.

Here are some of the best free apps, app updates and new apps that have landed in the App Store recently. All app prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly, so grab them while you can.

Apps Now Free

7 Minute Workout - Quick Fit [iPhone; Now free, down from $1.99] Get in shape with this scientifically proven, full body workout, in only 7 minutes.

Every iPad since the original has had a SwitchEasy Canvas case, a series of folio designs that hit their apex back in 2013 with an uber-protective version for the original iPad mini. The formula’s always the same: a canvas lid and mostly canvas back, plus a plastic iPad-holding shell and a fabric lining. SwitchEasy always tosses in some goodies to sweeten the package, too, including screen film and a cleaning cloth. There aren’t many surprises, but a Canvas case is always a good case.

Saturday February 14

The BBC announced today that Zane Lowe, who has worked as an award-winning Radio 1 DJ for nearly twelve years, is stepping down from his position in March and moving to California to take up a role at Apple. Lowe has long been regarded as one of the UK’s top sources for music discovery, and his show helped make many artists the stars they are today.

Lowe hasn’t publicly stated what role he’ll be filling at the Cupertino tech company, but it’s not hard to conclude that he’ll be lending his curation expertise to the big upcoming relaunch of the Beats Music streaming service. Beats Music, of course, is already staffed by music industry icons...

If you are looking for a capable photo editor that will spruce up your photos, look no further than Photo Editor by Aviary. Once developed by an independent company, Aviary is now owned by Adobe. Aviary Photo Editor is more than just a basic photo editor; the app includes a variety of artistic filters and other editing tools to transform a plain photo into something beautiful.

When you first open Aviary, the first thing you will notice are the wide variety of the tools aligned neatly at the bottom of the app. The available utilities run the gamut from the auto-enhance preset that fixes your photo in one step to the sliders that provide granular control over color saturation, contrast and more. The tools include enhance (presets), effects (filters), frames, overlays, stickers, orientation, crop, lighting, color sharpness, focus, vignette, blemish remover, blur, whiten, red eye, draw,...

Having reviewed hundreds of different models over the years, I can say with some authority that iPad cases are rarely “exciting.” Early on, Apple established the folio — a lidded sleeve with the ability to stand upright for videos — as the de facto standard for iPad case design, and perhaps half of all the iPad cases since then have followed the same general theme, differing more in materials than functionality. Incipio’s latest designs for the iPad Air 2 are all small riffs on the same idea: fabric lids connected to plastic iPad holders, varying more in the particulars than the broad strokes.

Here are some of the best free apps, app updates and new apps that have landed in the App Store recently. All app prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly, so grab them while you can.

Apps Now Free

ViewExif [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $0.99] ViewExif is an iOS extension which allows you to view exif metadata of photos.

Orphion [iPad; Now free, down from $3.99] Orphion is a musical instrument with a unique sound between string instrument and percussion.

In the latest high-profile claim surrounding Apple's rumored electric car project, Reuters on Saturday cited sources who believe the company has been interacting with automotive suppliers and car manufactures in an attempt to learn how to develop an autonomous car.

I'd like to welcome new Apple World Today readers who may not have been familiar with our old site (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) to a time-honored tradition: Caturday. Yes, it happens on Saturdays. Yes, it involves pictures of cats near Apple gear. And yes, it does go away for a while in the summer for something we'll call The Dog Days of Summer. Since AOL doesn't own the rights to Caturday in any way, shape or form - we actually got the idea from the #caturday hashtag on Twitter - we're giving you the kittehs and their Macs, iPads, iPhones, and iPods right here on Apple World Today.

Our first Caturday cat is Seba, who is the companion of Sonny Gilbert. Seba has a very special cat condo made from an eMac, which has my two four-legged bosses glaring at me wondering why they don't get the same treatment.

To be up front, this is an ad for a red Field Notes memo book that came out a few years ago. But ad or not, it’s full of Valentine’s Day sentiment. Share this with someone you love. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Other Silicon Valley giants are looking at autos. Google Inc. has been working on a self-driving car for years. The head of Google’s autonomous vehicle project said last year that the company aims to forge a partnership with auto makers to build a self-driving car within the next few years. A self-driving car is not part of Apple’s current plan, one of the people familiar with the project said.

Friday February 13

The impending release of Photos for OS X and the new iCloud Photo Library make Apple's commitment to the cloud more important than ever before. But the company's current iCloud storage options are confusing to the average user and remain a significant hurdle it must find a way to address.

An anonymous reader writes: A report at the Financial Times (paywalled) says Apple is on an aggressive hiring push to pick up automotive experts. Recent rumors suggest Apple is putting together a transportation research lab, and nobody outside the company is quite sure why. It's unlikely they's want to build an entire car themselves, but quite possible they see a big space for Apple technology within motor vehicles, much as Google seems to. They already have CarPlay, and it will doubtless grow, but we still don't have anything approaching a dominant platform for car software. Whatever they're working on, it looks like the competition for more robust computer technology in cars is heating up.

It's time to save some of your hard-earned money with our Daily Deals, featuring exclusive deals for AWT readers, hardware discounts and our own handpicked iOS and OS X sales. All prices are USD and subject to change. Please check prices before you purchase as some deals may expire quickly.

AWT's Daily Deal

Simon 4.0 [OS X; On sale for $49.00, down from $99.00] AppleWorld.Today is pleased to offer an exclusive deal on Simon 4.0 by Dejal Systems Simon is a robust site monitoring tool for OS X that checks servers for changes or failures and notifies you when a change is detected. The app sends a notification via email, sound, speech, Twitter, or a variety of other means.

The native Mac utility can be used to monitor both your own website and servers as well as external sites. You can use it to track your...

Vint Cerf, vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google, this week issued a stern warning at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference, held in San Jose. "Old formats that contain documents, photos and other data may not be readable with the latest version of the software," Cerf said, adding that backwards compatibility is not guaranteed, and over time there could be vast archives of digital content that simply can't be accessed.

When Apple introduced introduced iOS 8, it also introduced Extensibility. In a nutshell, that means any app can hook into the share sheet that lets you share content with other people, apps and services. In this video, I show you how to customize those options.

On Friday, recent rumors about an Apple-branded automobile exploded with allegations that a staff of "several hundred" employees was working on an electric car inside of Apple headquarters.

The Wall Street Journal's report cited "people familiar with the matter" in describing a project named "Titan," and while the report acknowledged the possibility that such a car might never see release, or at least take years to launch, its sources claimed that the specific people put onto the Titan project—including former Ford engineer and current Apple product design vice president Steve Zadesky—were a sign that "the company was serious."

The report also noted that Apple recently hired former Ford designer Marc Newson; if Apple is indeed building a car, then Newson's hire starts making even more sense. In addition to his...

The smoke surrounding rumors of an Apple-branded vehicle has begun to thicken, as a new report says that Apple is indeed working on an all-electric vehicle that would take the shape of a minivan, with a huge team tasked to the project.

Following a report today that Apple was hiring experts from the automotive industry for a new research lab, The Wall Street Journal adds to the story claiming Apple has several hundred employees working on an Apple-branded electric car:

Apple has several hundred employees working secretly toward creating an Apple-branded electric vehicle, according to people familiar with the matter. They said the project, code-named “Titan,” has an initial design of a vehicle that resembles a minivan, one of these people said.

The report adds that CEO Tim Cook approved the project close to a year ago with product design Vice President Steve Zadesky, a former Ford...

Apple is among more than a half-dozen major U.S. corporations that have agreed to integrate the White House's Cybersecurity Framework into their operations, but the iPhone maker will not share security information with the federal government.

If you bought your iMac 3-5 years ago, there’s probably nothing so seriously wrong with the hardware that you need to consider replacing the machine. Sure, the new iMac with 5K Retina Display looks a little nicer, but at a steep $2,499 starting point, it’s still a luxury, not a necessity.

Yet there’s something you can do for $200 to $500 that will radically change your iMac’s performance: install a solid state drive (SSD) in addition to or instead of its original hard drive. SSDs use high-speed memory chips rather than the spinning platter mechanisms in traditional hard drives, achieving up to 5X benefits in speed while requiring no moving parts. Five...

Google and Mattel now are teaming up to revive and modernize the View-Master. Mattel on Friday announced a new version that works with Google Cardboard and Android smartphones. Mattel will offer the new View-Master and a sample experience reel this fall, for US$30. Additional experience reel packs, each featuring four themed experience reels, will be offered at $15. These reel packs will have themes such as nature, adventure destinations, and science.

Credit: U.S. Geological SurveyDepartment of the Interior/USGSU.S. Geological Survey/photo by Toni smith

No sooner had the post about Apple Pay negotiations going on between Apple and several banks in Brazil gone live than we received more Apple Pay news. The United States federal government today announced that it will support Apple Pay with its own payment cards and that Uncle Sam is going to start accepting Apple Pay for various purchases.

Among the agencies to accept Apple Pay will be the National Park Service, the United States Postal Service, the Kennedy Space Center (tours and gift shops, rocket rides not included), the Smithsonian Institution museums, and US Customs and Border Protection.

Apple is also working with Visa, MasterCard, Comerica Bank and US Bank to make Apple Pay available for federal payment cards such as DirectExpress and GSA SmartPay cards. This would allow federal employees to use those cards -- in a tokenized, encrypted...

At present, Apple Pay is only making a big splash in one place - the United States. But Apple has publicly stated that it wants to expand the payment system everywhere as soon as possible. Now comes word from Brazil that three banks in the South American country are negotiating with Apple to bring Apple Pay to their customers.

As Season Business reporter Guilherme Felitti notes in an article today, banks Bank of Brazil, Bradesco, and Itáu are in talks with Apple about Apple Pay. Felitti says that "Technically, all the factors to make Apple Pay work in Brazil are already lined up." The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are being sold in Brazil, and almost 80 percent of the retail terminals installed by the two top providers are already compatible with Near Field Communication (NFC) - a key part of the overall Apple Pay system.

In fact, Felitti notes that if an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus user has a US-issued credit card, they can already use Apple Pay in Brazil. A...

Speaking at the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection on Friday, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook revealed that the U.S. government plans to begin accepting Apple Pay for a number of transactions, starting with admission to U.S. national parks.

Speaking at the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection on Friday, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook revealed that the U.S. government plans to begin accepting Apple Pay for a number of transactions, starting with admission to U.S. national parks.

You didn’t have to look too far to spot the action at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy gala on Feb. 7. Ground zero was table 108, where Apple CEO Tim Cook, senior vp Internet software and services Eddy Cue, iTunes vp Robert Kondrk and Beats co-founder and title-less Apple executive Jimmy Iovine were seated alongside former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi. After a shout-out from the party’s host (Davis called Cook a “special human”), music execs lined up single file for an audience with the Apple contingent — not to mention selfies and overshares about their first Macs.

Headline hyperbole aside, Apple is definitely making behind the scenes moves with the music industry. It will be very exciting to see what they come up with.

The wildest tech rumor this week comes from little substance, but somehow manages to ignite the imagination: According to Business Insider, an unsolicited Apple employee emailed to say that a group at Apple is working on a project that would "give Tesla a run for its money." For this to be true, it means that an Apple employee either broke Apple's strict rules for secrecy in some obvious way that makes Business Insider believe the email actually came from an Apple employee, or that it was some sort of vague and intentional leak from Apple, sent straight to Business Insider.

Now iPhone and iPad users have a version of Outlook: Microsoft’s consolidated email, scheduling, and contacts app. The new arrival is crammed with useful features as well.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Ss those of us who have had to rely on our backups in the past know, the act of backing up is only the first small step in the full equation — it’s being able to restore that really matters.

Take a few minutes to identify some critical files and see if you can restore them successfully from your backups. If a bootable backup is part of your backup strategy, make sure you can actually boot from it.

Adam has mentioned this every Friday the 13th and it’s a good thing to remember – all the backups in the world are useless if you can’t restore your data from them.

Apple has hired former president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Research & Development Johann Jungwirth to join the company as Director of Mac Systems Engineering. The hire was confirmed by Jungwirth’s LinkedIn page, and first noted by a report in the Financial Times detailing Apple’s recent hires in the automotive industry and secretive new automotive research lab.

The report claims Apple’s automotive hires are for a new research lab where “experienced managers from its iPhone unit, are...

Tim Cook is set to speak ahead of President Obama today at the White House Summit on Cybersecurity at Stanford University, and the White House has already shared some unexpected news regarding government support for Apple Pay. As noted by Bloomberg, the White House announced that federal-payment cards will support Apple Pay, including debit cards where veteran benefits and Social Security payments are issued.

“The White House announced Friday that Apple Inc.’s mobile-payment system will be enabled for users of federal-payment cards, including Social...

Following Apple Pay’s successful use of tokens—one-time-use, unique codes rather than credit card numbers for payment transactions—Visa today announced that it will remove 16-digit account numbers for mobile and online payments across 2015. No specific date was given for the transition; instead, Visa suggests that tokens will begin to replace credit card numbers as the company’s partners get access to the Visa Token Service that rolled out alongside Apple Pay in October 2014.

“Removing card account numbers from the processing and storage of payments represents one of the most innovative and promising technologies we’ve seen in decades,” said Charlie Scharf, chief executive officer, Visa Inc.

According to Visa, online transactions made with Visa Checkout will be tokenized this year, securing transactions for over 110 existing merchants. ...

A few months ago, Apple pulled a marijuana-related app called MassRoots from the App Store. What's odd is that the app, a social-networking tool for those who use cannabis medically or for recreational purposes, had been in the store between July 2013 and November 4, 2014.

At the time, it was conjectured that Apple pulled the app for violating Section 2.18 of the App Store Review Guidelines. Those guidelines state that "apps that encourage excessive consumption of alcohol or illegal substances, or encourage minors to consume alcohol or smoke cigarettes, will be rejected."

After the app was removed from the App Store, MassRoots founder Isaac Dietrich attempted to have the app reinstated by offering to geo-restrict its use to the 23 states that allow legal medical and/or...

Apple's ambitions in the music industry go beyond competing with the likes of streaming services like Spotify and Pandora, signaling that the acquisition of the Beats Music subscription service is just a part of the company's plans to overhaul iTunes.

chicksdaddy writes: President Obama travels to Stanford University on Friday to join Apple CEO Tim Cook in talking about the need for more private-public sector cooperation to fight cyber crime. But technology industry executives attending the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection complain that a major obstacle to cooperation is a lack of legislative action that clarify the rules of the road for private firms when it comes to sharing information about customers with the government and each other. The controversy over government surveillance has put the ball in the government's court, said Michael Brown, RSA's Global Public Sector Vice President. "They need to articulate what amount of access to private information is 'appropriate and legal' for law enforcement and the government," Brown said. "It's not just about 'when, where, and how.' They also need to clearly articulate 'why' – for example: this is a matter of public safety and this is the only way we can...

As we mentioned earlier this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook is in attendance at the White House Summit on cybersecurity today at Stanford University where he’s expected to discuss Apple, privacy, and security. Notably, Tim Cook is the only technology company chief executive participating in the event with the White House as CEOs at Facebook, Yahoo, and Google each declined deciding to send lower-level staff instead. Other CEOs in attendance include the heads of Apple Pay partners Bank of America and Visa as well as the chief executive officer of AIG. You can view a stream of the event below:

I believe Apple is truly a company that is always looking at the big picture, I really do. The iPhone and iPad and Mac all work together, using iTunes and iCloud and even Apple Pay as infrastructure, in a harmonious way. But at the same time, it’s hard not to look at the size of Apple’s iPhone business and wonder how the success of the iPhone affects Apple’s decision-making.

I’ve often made the same point. I don’t think Apple is truly ignoring the the other aspects of their business but the iPhone is definitely the 800 lb gorilla.

PCalc is a full-featured, scriptable scientific calculator with support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations, as well as an RPN mode, programmable functions, and an extensive set of unit... Read more

FileZilla 3.10.2 - Fast and reliable FTP...

FileZilla (ported from Windows) is a fast and reliable FTP client and server with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.
Version 3.10.2:
Note: Now requires a 64-bit Intel processor.... Read more

The Hit List 1.1.11 - Advanced reminder...

The Hit List manages the daily chaos of your modern life. It's easy to learn - it's as easy as making lists. And it's powerful enough to let you plan, then forget, then act when the time is right.... Read more

Bartender 1.2.32 - Organize your menu ba...

Bartender lets you organize your menu bar apps.
Features:
Lets you tidy your menu bar apps how you want.
See your menu bar apps when you want.
Hide the apps you need to run, but do not need to... Read more

ClamXav 2.7.5 - Free virus checker, base...

ClamXav is a free virus checker for OS X. It uses the tried, tested, and very popular ClamAV open source antivirus engine as a back end.
I hope you like and use ClamXav a lot and that it helps keep... Read more

xScope 4.1.2 - Onscreen graphic measurem...

xScope is powerful set of tools that are ideal for measuring, inspecting, and testing on-screen graphics and layouts. Its tools float above your desktop windows and can be accessed via a toolbar,... Read more

MacFamilyTree 7.3.3 - Create and explore...

MacFamilyTree gives genealogy a facelift: it's modern, interactive, incredibly fast, and easy to use. We're convinced that generations of chroniclers would have loved to trade in their genealogy... Read more

Skype 7.5.0.738 - Voice-over-internet ph...

Skype allows you to talk to friends, family and co-workers across the Internet without the inconvenience of long distance telephone charges. Using peer-to-peer data transmission technology, Skype... Read more

PushPal 3.0 - Mirror Android notificatio...

PushPal is a client for Pushbullet, which automatically shows you all of your phone's notifications right on your computer. This means you can see who's calling or read text messages even if your... Read more

At this point it’s pretty safe to say that no MOBA is going to dethrone Dota 2 and League of Legends anytime soon. After all, if Batman can’t do it, nobody can. However, with a genre as popular and profitable as this one, there’s still room for... | Read more »

Final February Fun at 148Apps
How do you know what apps are worth your time and money? Just look to the review team at 148Apps. We sort through the chaos and find the apps you’re looking for. The ones we love become Editor’s Choice, standing out... | Read more »

GDC 2015 – Does Not Commute is Definitel...

GDC 2015 – Does Not Commute is Definitely a Game You Should Keep an Eye on
Posted by Rob Rich on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
We were teased about Mediocre Games’ (Smash Hit,
| Read more »

F84 Games & POW! Announce Stan Lee V...

F84 Games has announced that it is working with legendary comic creator Stan Lee and POW! Entertainment to produce Stan Lee’s Hero Command. The game will be a action adventure of heroic proportions.
| Read more »

Setlyst Keeps Your Set Straight So You C...

Setlyst Keeps Your Set Straight So You Can Focus On Rocking Out.
Posted by Jessica Fisher on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
| Read more »

Space is Vast, So Space Agency Has a Vas...

Space is Vast, So Space Agency Has a Vast New Update!
Posted by Jessica Fisher on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
| Read more »

Size DOES Matter Review

Size DOES Matter Review
By Campbell Bird on March 2nd, 2015
Our Rating: :: HARD TO BEATUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
This rhythm game has a unique control scheme and performance system that make it feel like a true... | Read more »

The first ever action 3D card battler Al...

On the other hand, you probably haven’t played an action 3D card battler – until now. Step forward, All Star Legion.
All Star Legion is a 3D QTE-based action RPG card battler, but fear not – the game itself isn’t as convoluted as its description.... | Read more »

Travel Back to the 1980s With the Making...

Headup Games has released a hilarious making of video for its upcoming title, Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic. The game is a RPG/Roguelike where you control three heroes set to save the township of Pixton from an evil cult called The Sons of Dawn.... | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Sale! 15-inch 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro for $...

Best Buy has the 15″ 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro on sale for $1774.99 $1799.99, or $225 off MSRP. Choose free home shipping or free local store pickup (if available). Price valid for online orders... Read more

27-inch 3.5GHz 5K iMac in stock today and on...

B&H Photo has the 27″ 3.5GHz 5K iMac in stock today and on sale for $2299 including free shipping plus NY sales tax only. Their price is $200 off MSRP, and it’s the lowest price available for... Read more

Apple Launches Free Web-Based Pages and Other...

Apple’s new Web-only access to iWork productivity apps is a free level of iCloud service available to anyone, including people who don’t own or use Apple devices. The service includes access to Apple... Read more

Survey Reveals Solid State Disk (SSD) Technol...

In a recent SSD technology use survey, Kroll Ontrack, a firm specializing in data recovery, found that while nearly 90 percent of respondents leverage the performance and reliability benefits of SSD... Read more

Save up to $600 with Apple refurbished Mac Pr...

The Apple Store is offering Apple Certified Refurbished Mac Pros for up to $600 off the cost of new models. An Apple one-year warranty is included with each Mac Pro, and shipping is free. The... Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook will deliver the George Washington University’s Commencement address to GWU grads on May 17, at which time he will also be awarded an honorary doctorate of public service from the... Read more

Apple restocks refurbished Mac minis for up t...

The Apple Store has restocked Apple Certified Refurbished 2014 Mac minis, with models available starting at $419. Apple’s one-year warranty is included with each mini, and shipping is free:
- 1.4GHz... Read more

Walmart has the 16GB iPad Air 2 WiFi on sale for $446.99 on their online store for a limited time. Choose free shipping or free local store pickup (if available). Sale price for online orders only,... Read more

Jobs Board

*Apple* Solutions Consultant - Retail Sales...

**Job Summary** As an Apple Solutions Consultant (ASC) you are the link between our customers and our products. Your role is to drive the Apple business in a retail
Read more

*Apple* Pay Automation Engineer - iOS System...

**Job Summary** At Apple , great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job
Read more

Sr. Technical Services Consultant, *Apple*...

**Job Summary** Apple Professional Services (APS) has an opening for a senior technical position that contributes to Apple 's efforts for strategic and transactional
Read more

Event Director, *Apple* Retail Marketing -...

…This senior level position is responsible for leading and imagining the Apple Retail Team's global engagement strategy and team. Delivering an overarching brand
Read more

*Apple* Pay - Site Reliability Engineer - Ap...

**Job Summary** Imagine what you could do here. At Apple , great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring
Read more

MacTech is a registered trademark of Xplain Corporation. Xplain, "The journal of Apple technology", Apple Expo, Explain It, MacDev, MacDev-1, THINK Reference, NetProfessional, Apple Expo, MacTech Central, MacTech Domains, MacNews, MacForge, and the MacTutorMan are trademarks or service marks of Xplain Corporation. Sprocket is a registered trademark of eSprocket Corporation. Other trademarks and copyrights appearing in this printing or software remain the property of their respective holders. Not responsible for typographical errors.

All contents are Copyright 1984-2011 by Xplain Corporation. All rights reserved. Theme designed by Icreon.